| 2013 Tessalit attack | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 France |  Katibat Salahadin | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 2 killed 6 injured | 5 killed | ||||||
| 1 civilian killed 3 civilians injured | |||||||
On October 23, 2013, Katiba Salahadin militants attacked Chadian peacekeepers in the city of Tessalit, sparking a battle between the militants and Chadian and French forces. The attack was the first attack by jihadists targeting MINUSMA peacekeepers during the Mali War.
Tessalit, in northern Kidal Region, was the site of the second battle of the Mali War, when moderate Tuareg forces of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and jihadist fighters from Ansar Dine besieged Malian troops at the Amachach base in Tessalit, and captured the city after two months. [1] Following the Malian counteroffensive in 2013, Chadian peacekeepers from MINUSMA and French forces of Operation Serval were stationed in the city.
Around 9:40am on October 23, a VBIED driven by suicide bombers targeted Chadian peacekeepers at a roadblock in front of the headquarters of Tessalit Cercle in Tessalit. [2] [3] [4] Shortly afterward, three other suicide bombers between the ages of 17 and 30 equipped with vests carrying Chinese 60mm mortar shells and AKMs rifles ran towards the peacekeepers. Two of the suicide bombers were shot dead before they could reach the peacekeepers, but the third one managed to blow himself up. [5] This suicide bomber caused the deaths of two Chadian soldiers. [5]
Other jihadists then began swarming positions of the Chadian army. One group first shot light weapons in the early afternoon, and a second group shot rockets at Chadian forces from a position seven kilometers from the city. [5] [6] French forces in the city helped Chadian forces with engineering and medical elements. [7] Jihadist forces withdrew from Tessalit in the early afternoon. [4]
The attack was claimed the same day by Sultan Ould Bady, commander and founder of Katibat Salahadin. His katiba was a brigade in MOJWA, but had recently defected to Ansar Dine. Around the time of the attack, Bady's katiba was assumed to be operating largely on its own. [8]
A UN spokesman stated two Chadian soldiers were killed in the attack, and six others were injured. The Chadian government and Malian Minister of Defense both confirmed this assessment. [3] In the same statement, the UN stated a civilian was killed in the attack, with the Malian defense minister clarifying a child was killed. Three civilians, including a child, were injured as well. [4]
A Malian military officer stated four suicide bombers were killed, and the Chadian Army revised this number to five killed. [6] [9]
The Mali War is an ongoing conflict that started in January 2012 between the northern and southern parts of Mali in Africa. On 16 January 2012, several insurgent groups began fighting a campaign against the Malian government for independence or greater autonomy for northern Mali, which they called Azawad. The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), an organization fighting to make this area of Mali an independent homeland for the Tuareg people, had taken control of the region by April 2012.
The following is a timeline of major events during the Northern Mali conflict.
The 2016 Nampala attack was an armed assault against a Malian Army base in the Niono Cercle subdivision of the Ségou Region of Mali on 19 July 2016, that left at least 17 government soldiers dead and 35 others injured. The Katiba Macina, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and the ethnic Fula militant group National Alliance for the Protection of Fulani Identity and the Restoration of Justice (ANSIPRJ) claimed joint responsibility.
Ahmed al-Tilemsi, nom de guerre of Abderrahmane Ould El Amar was a Malian jihadist leader and drug trafficker who served as a founding member and senior figure of the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) and a senior figure and alleged emir of al-Mourabitoun.
An Islamist insurgency has been ongoing in the Sahel region of West Africa since the 2011 Arab Spring. In particular, the intensive conflict in the three countries of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso has been referred to as the Sahel War.
The 2019 Aguelhok attack was an attack by Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin against the MINUSMA base in Aguelhok, Mali on January 20, 2019. At the time of the attack, the base was defended by Chadian and Bengali peacekeepers, and was later aided by French forces part of Operation Barkhane.
On November 24, 2017, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin ambushed Nigerien MINUSMA peacekeepers and Malian soldiers in the village of Indelimane, Mali.
On August 14, 2017, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin attacked a MINUSMA base in Timbuktu, Mali.
On May 29, 2016, Katiba Macina militants ambushed Togolese peacekeepers in MINUSMA near Sévaré, Mali. The attack was the first deadly attack against UN peacekeepers in Mopti Region during the Mali War, and the first major engagement involving Togolese peacekeepers during the war.
The National Alliance for the Protection of Fulani Identity and the Restoration of Justice (ANSIPRJ) was a Fulani nationalist political and military movement formed on June 21, 2016, during the Mali War.
Between December 24–25, 2015, Ansar Dine militants attacked National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) positions in Talahandak, Mali. Ansar Dine captured the MNLA outpost, and then ambushed CMA reinforcements.
On July 16, 2015, the Malian army raided a jihadist base in the Sama Forest, in southern Mali's Sikasso Region. The raid is one of the few confrontations between jihadists and the Malian army in southern Mali, and marked the end of the Khalid ibn Walid katiba and jihadist expansion in southern Mali.
On January 28 and February 4, 2015, pro-government Imghad Tuareg GATIA fighters attacked a base staffed by Arab Movement of Azawad (MAA) fighters in Tabrichat, Mali.
The raid on Ténenkou took place on January 16, 2015, between Malian forces and jihadists of the Ansar Dine-affiliated Katiba Macina.
On January 5, 2015, militants from Katiba Macina and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) overran Malian defenses and briefly captured the city of Nampalari, Mali.
Abdou Aïssa, nom de guerre Sultan Ould Bady, is a Malian jihadist and drug trafficker. He co-founded the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MOJWA) with Hamada Ould Mohamed Kheirou and Ahmed al-Tilemsi, and founded Katibat Salahadin, a katiba within MOJWA that later reformed in the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara after Bady defected.
On 11 June 2014, a suicide bomber attacked the MINUSMA base in Aguelhok, Mali, killing several Chadian peacekeepers.
On December 14, 2013, Katibat Salahadin militants attacked Senegalese peacekeepers and Malian soldiers in the city of Kidal. Residents of Kidal stated that the attack was one of the most destructive since the beginning of the Mali War.
On November 8, 2013, clashes broke out between Malian forces and the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) in Amazragane, Ménaka Region, Mali.
Didier Dacko is a Malian general who commanded Malian forces during the early stages of the Mali War, and reversed the gains made by the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and jihadist groups in 2013.
